The Arctic.
Crack—crack—crack!
Amidst deep rumbling, the Fortress of Solitude erupted from beneath layers of ice once again.
"Alex, come on in. I've already spoken with Jor-El."
Clark Kent waved him forward and led Alex into the crystalline structure.
Jor-El's holographic form appeared almost immediately.
---
"Alex, Clark told me your request."
"Are you… sure you aren't overestimating me?"
Even for a Kryptonian intelligence, Jor-El looked thoroughly bewildered.
If this were the golden age of Krypton, Alex's request would've been trivial.
Jor-El could've dispatched a fleet to gather planetary fragments.
But now?
He had nothing left except the Fortress—an immobile sanctuary.
It couldn't even exit Earth's atmosphere, let alone scour the universe for debris.
---
"Jor, let's start simple."
Alex smiled calmly.
"Can you distinguish an ordinary rock from a Kryptonian fragment?"
"Of course."
Jor-El answered without hesitation.
Detecting the composition of matter was trivial for him.
But that required having the sample in front of him.
The debris scattered throughout the cosmos?
He had no way to reach them.
Which brought the problem right back to the beginning.
How were they supposed to obtain the fragments?
---
Alex snapped his fingers lightly.
"Then this is easy."
"Jor, I have a method—one that might allow you to scan the entire universe."
---
"Scan…the entire… universe?"
Even Jor-El, a pinnacle of Kryptonian computation, was shaken.
Clark looked no less stunned.
This wasn't just unrealistic—it sounded like nonsense.
"Alex, that is impossible," Jor-El said firmly.
"Not even Krypton at its height could accomplish such a feat."
---
Alex only chuckled.
"If you never try, how would you know?"
He flipped his hand.
---
A flash of golden light.
A metallic gauntlet appeared—ornate, heavy, ominously radiant.
Six gemstones glimmered upon its surface in six distinct colors.
Clark's breath caught instantly.
The Infinity Gauntlet.
Fully assembled.
Complete.
Alex had finally decided to use it.
Up to now, everything he faced could be handled with his own strength.
But this time?
This went beyond even his monstrous capabilities.
---
"What… is that?"
Clark stared, eyes wide.
He didn't know what it was.
But he felt it.
A suffocating, universe-shaking power hummed within the gauntlet.
Even the blind would sense it wasn't of this earth.
Or any earth.
---
Alex didn't answer him.
His gaze locked onto Jor-El.
"Jor, this tool can give you the ability to scan the cosmos.
I'm going to link it to you.
Do not resist."
---
"Impossible—!"
Jor-El's voice cracked.
"The energy level in that artifact… exceeds my computational threshold!
I cannot even quantify it!"
For Jor-El—whose processing exceeded most supercomputers in existence—to say he couldn't measure something…
That alone spoke volumes.
The Infinity Stones radiated energy beyond the upper limit of Kryptonian science.
For Jor-El, it was like witnessing a force from another reality entirely.
---
"Shall we begin?"
Alex slipped the gauntlet onto his hand.
WOOOM—
Raw cosmic power surged outward.
But his body—stronger than Thanos ever dreamed of—bore it with ease.
He activated the Six Stones simultaneously.
The gems ignited.
Space. Time. Reality. Power. Mind. Soul.
A bridge formed instantly.
The Mind Stone connected Alex to Jor-El—merging their thoughts and systems.
Jor-El's data, his entire logic matrix, lay open before Alex.
And Alex could do everything Jor-El could—
amplified by infinity.
---
In a flash—
Alex located Krypton's original coordinates.
Centered on that point, he swept the surrounding cosmic expanse.
Every drifting shard of the destroyed planet lit up in his vision.
Then—
He reached out.
Through the gauntlet.
Through space.
Through gravity itself.
---
RUMBLE—
RUMBLE—
Outside the Fortress…
The Earth shook.
A mountain rose.
A mountain made entirely of Kryptonian fragments—dragged from the cold void across unimaginable distances.
---
"Okay. Done."
Alex released the connection and withdrew the gauntlet.
---
"Alex… what did you just do?"
Jor-El's voice quivered.
He'd lost control of himself for a full minute.
This human—this "Homelander"—had overridden him, exceeded him, dominated him.
If Jor-El's consciousness was a mountain…
Then the program Alex imposed on him was a planet.
There was simply no comparison.
If Alex had wanted to erase him, Jor-El would've been helpless.
---
Clark, meanwhile, had walked to the Fortress entrance—and froze.
Outside, towering over the Arctic plain…
A colossal mountain of black-and-silver Kryptonian mineral gleamed under the cold sun.
His home planet.
What was left of it.
Brought to Earth in a single moment.
His heart felt like it stopped beating.
**"Alex…
how… how did you do that?"**
He knew the Fortress.
He knew the boundaries of its technology.
He knew what was and wasn't possible.
What he had just witnessed—
broke the limits of everything he believed.
A feat beyond Kryptonian science.
Beyond magic.
Beyond comprehension.
"Alex," Clark whispered, "you're… something else entirely."
A being beyond reason.
Beyond power.
Beyond Krypton.
Beyond gods.
---
"Excellent."
Alex stepped beside Clark and looked at the mountain with satisfaction.
A mountain of energy.
A mountain of fuel.
A mountain of potential power.
His next ascension was within reach.
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